Notes

1.1] This selection contains an episode of the story of "The Lady of the Lake", published in 1810--the work which established his poetic reputation. The poem was "intended to illustrate the customs and manners which anciently prevailed on the Borders of England and Scotland. The inhabitants, living in a state partly pastoral and partly warlike, and combining habits of constant depredation with the influence of a rude spirit of chivalry, were often engaged in scenes highly susceptible of poetical ornament." (Scott.)

The Ladye. The lady of Branksome Castle, the seat of the Border family of the Scotts of Buccleuch from which the Poet himself was descended. By the recent death of her husband in a skirmish with the Carrs, or Kerrs, of Cessford, she has become the head of the house, and having learned by supernatural means that her daughter is likely to wed a member of the hostile house, she, at the point when our selection opens, despatches a retainer for a magical volume buried at Melrose Abbey, in the hope of defeating, by the aid of its spells, the threatened marriage. The antiquated spelling is intended to give the proper colouring to a poem which is supposed to be recited by the last of the minstrels. Back to Line

1.5] moss-trooper. This was the usual appellation of the marauders upon the Borders. "Mosses" are boggy moors, such as are common in the Border shires. Back to Line

1.6] truncheon. A diminutive of 'trunk'; here, 'the shaft of a spear'. Back to Line

1.15] Lockhart explains the defective metre of this line by the fact that in the poet's own pronunciation the rolled r in 'Unicorn's' would have the effect of a syllable. The arms of the Carrs of Cessford bore three unicorns' heads, with a unicorn's head for the crest; those of the Scotts of Buccleuch a star of six points between two crescents. The story of the "Lay" has to do with a feud between these two Border clans. Back to Line

1.25] The Solway sands were extremely dangerous owing to the rapidity with which the tide rose and the numerous quicksands. (See the description in Scott's Redgauntlet, Letter iv.) Tarras. A river which runs into the Eske from the east. Back to Line

1.28] Percy. The head of the well-known English family whose estates lay in Northumberland, and who were constantly engaged in Scottish wars. Back to Line

1.29] Eske or Liddel. These rivers are on the southern border of Scotland and united reach the Solway. Back to Line

1.31] tide. Not in the usual modern sense, which is secondary, but in the original meaning of 'time', as in 'Eventide', 'Whitsuntide'. Back to Line

1.39] good at need. Scott found this phrase in a Border ballad, "The Raid of the Reidswire". It was a fashion in ballad poetry, as in the Homeric poems, to attach some adjective to the name of a person, even in places where the context did not specially call for it, so we have the 'swift-footed Achilles', the 'far-darting Apollo'. Back to Line

1.49] St. Michael's night. 'Michaelmas', the festival of St. Michael is celebrated on the 29th September. Back to Line

1.50] The wizard was buried at one o'clock on St. Michael's night in such a position that the moon shining through a stained-glass window made a red cross over the tomb. His magic book was buried with him, and was only to be used by the chief of the clan in the hour of extremity. Back to Line

1.61] 'an. Scott points with the apostrophe as if the word were for 'began'; modern philologists hold that 'an' is the past tense of 'gin', a word used by Chaucer, Spenser, and other early poets as an auxiliary in the sense of 'did'. Back to Line

1.66] "Hairibee. The place of execution at Carlisle. The neck-verse is the beginning of the 51st Psalm, Miserere mei, etc., anciently read by criminals claiming the benefit of clergy." (Scott.) The clergy were anciently amenable not to the secular, but to the ecclesiastical courts; in process of time this privilege was claimed by all who could read, and as the ecclesiastical courts did not inflict the penalty of death, the reading of the verse might save the criminal's neck. Back to Line

1.69] barbican. "The defence of the outer gate of a feudal castle." (Scott). Minto adds: "The epithet 'sounding' indicates that Scott probably took his idea of a barbican from Alnwick Castle, where there is a very fine gate and barbican of the Edwardian period. The barbican is fifty-five feet long, strong masonry protecting a passage to the gate about ten feet broad. The outer passage is vaulted to the length of about twenty feet, the rest open to the sky." Back to Line

1.72] basnet. A small light helmet, diminutive from 'basin'. Back to Line

1.73] Peel of Goldiland. A peel was a simple strong tower common on the Borders for purposes of defence. For the exact situation of the places mentioned in this selection, a map should be consulted. Back to Line

1.74] Borthwick Water is a small tributary of the Teviot, half way between Branksome and Hawick. Back to Line

1.75] Moat-hill. "This is a round artificial mound near Hawick which from its name (A.S. Mot, concilium, conventus) was probably anciently used as a place for assembling a national council of the neighhouring tribes." (Scott.) Back to Line

1.90] the Roman way. "An ancient Roman road, crossing through this part of Roxburghshire." (Scott.) Back to Line

1.95] Minto-crags. "A romantic assembly of cliffs which rise suddenly above the vale of Teviot, in the immediate vicinity of the family seat from which Lord Minto takes his title. A small platform on a projecting crag, commanding a most beautiful prospect, is termed Barnhill's bed. This Barnhill is said to have been a robber, or outlaw. There are remains of a strong tower beneath the rocks, where he is supposed to have dwelt, and from which he derived his name. " (Scott.) Back to Line

1.104] the warbling Doric reed. Scott explains that the allusion is to a pastoral song written by Sir Gilbert Elliot, father of the first Lord Minto. 'Doric' because the founder of pastoral poetry, the Greek Theocritus, wrote in the Doric dialect; 'reed' because from reeds the pipes were made upon which shepherds played. Back to Line

1.105] This indicates the subject of the pastoral poem referred to; it may be found quoted in Scott's notes. Back to Line

1.119] barded. Armed; used of horses only. Counter. The breast of a horse, the part from the shoulders tothe neck. Back to Line

1.121] Minto remarks that these two lines "must be literally true. The weight of a complete suit of armour was from 150 to 200 lbs. Mosstroopers generally were not so heavily encumbered. Scott, however, gives Deloraine four hours to ride the twenty miles between Hawick and Melrose". Back to Line

1.129] Halidon. "An ancient seat of the Kerrs of Cessford. About a quarter of a mile to the northward lay the field of battle between Buccleuch and Angus." (Scott.) Back to Line

1.130] In the year 1526, the young King, James V, tired of the authority of Douglas, Earl of Angus, the virtual ruler of the country, wrote secretly to Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch, asking to be rescued from the hands of the Douglases. An opportunity would be afforded when the Douglases, with the King in their company, were on their return from the expedition to the Borders in which they were at this time engaged. Buccleuch, attempting to carry out the King's wishes, attacked the Douglases, who were assisted by the clans of Kerr and Home at Melrose. The Scotts were defeated, and pursued by the Kerrs. The leader of the latter, the Laird of Cessford, was slain in the pursuit by a retainer of Scott of Buccleuch, named Eliot. Hence a deadly feud between the Scotts and the Kerrs. In consequence of this quarrel Sir Walter was slain by the Kerrs in the streets of Edinburgh in 1552. The poem is supposed to open shortly after this event. Back to Line

1.142] Melros' for Melrose to avoid assonance with the next word. "The ancient and beautiful monastery of Melrose was founded by King David [in 1136]. Its ruins afford the finest specimen of Gothic architecture and Gothic sculpture of which Scotland can boast. The stone of which it is built, though it has resisted the weather for so many ages, retains perfect sharpness, so that even the most minute ornaments seem as entire as when newly wrought. In some of the cloisters, as is hinted in the next canto, there are representations of flowers, vegetables, etc., carved in stone, with accuracy and precision so delicate that we almost distrust our senses, when we consider the difficulty of subjecting so hard a substance to such intricate and exquisite modulation. This superb convent was dedicated to St. Mary, and the monks were of the Cistercian order." (Scott.) Back to Line

1.144] Abbaye. Abbey, for the sake of the rhyme and the archaic effect. Back to Line

1.146] lauds. "The midnight service of the Catholic church." (Scott.) Back to Line

2.3] lightsome. Not the ordinary word which is derived from "light", meaning 'not heavy'; the word as employed here is found in Spenser's "Faerie Queene", I.vii.23, "O lightsome day, the lamp of highest Jove." Back to Line

2.6] oriel. Used loosely here by Scott in the sense of a mullioned window (i.e., a window partitioned by perpendicular divisions); an "oriel" is properly a projecting window. Back to Line

2.9] alternately. Not in reference to the successive buttresses, but to each buttress, which was part in light, part in shade. Back to Line

2.11] "The buttresses ranged along the sides of the ruins of Melrose Abbey are, according to Gothic style, richly carved and fretted, containing niches for the statues of saints, and labelled with scrolls, bearing appropriate texts of Scripture." (Scott.) Back to Line

2.16] St. David's. David, king of Scotland in the 11th century, won a reputation for sanctity hy his monastic foundations. Back to Line

2.20] reck'd of. 'Cared for', a poetical word, more commonly without the preposition, as in "Hamlet", "recks not his own rede". Back to Line

2.39] aventayle. The lower part of the helmet before the face, which might be raised so as to admit the air. Back to Line

2.60] drie. 'Endure'; found in Old English, and in Lowland Scotch. Back to Line

2.66] Ave Mary. 'Hail, Mary', a short prayer beginning with these words, cf. Luke i.28. Back to Line

2.98] "The carved bosses at the intersection of the ribs of a vaulted ceiling cannot be fairly called keystones. If they could be so called, it is not the aisles that they lock. By quatre-feuille the poet means the four-leaved flower which is so common an ornament in the Decorated style. I do not know any authority for this use of the word. Quatrefoil is applied to an opening pierced in four foils, much used in ornaments, but quite different from a four-leaved boss. A corbel is a projecting stone or piece of timber supporting a superincumbent weight, such as the shaft or small column which supports the ribs of the vault. They are carved and moulded in a great variety of ways, often, as in Melrose Abbey, in the form of heads and faces." (Minto.) Back to Line